ELIZABETH GUZMÁN received her B.A in English from Universidad de Santiago (Chile) and her M.A. in English as a Second Language from West Virginia University, and then pursued doctoral studies at the University of Pittsburgh. She is currently the Director of the General Education Program at The University of Iowa, where she has been responsible for designing the GEP hybrid courses. She has extensive experience teaching Spanish and English to foreigners, Spanish Applied Linguistics, and Foreign Language Education at the university level in Chile and the United States. She co-directed the Spanish language program at the University of Michigan for 3 years, directed the Spanish program at Yale University for 5 years, and taught and coordinated the elementary summer language program at Middlebury College, one of the most successful and renowned language immersion programs in the world, for 10 years. Elizabeth is co-author of the first level Spanish textbook Mosaicos, published by Pearson. PALOMA LAPUERTA graduated from the University of Salamanca, Spain, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. She currently is a Associate Professor at Central Connecticut State University, where she teaches Spanish Language and Literature. She has 25 years of teaching experience at higher education institutions around the world, including in Spain, Switzerland, South Africa, and the United States. Dr. Lapuerta is co-author of the first level Spanish textbook Mosaicos, and the Spanish composition text La escritura paso a paso, both published by Pearson. JUDITH LISKIN-GASPARRO earned her Ph.D. in Foreign Language Education and Second Language Acquisition from the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Iowa, where she also co-directs FLARE (Foreign Language Acquisition Research and Education), which operates an interdisciplinary doctoral program in Second Language Acquisition. Her research interests include language acquisition during study abroad, the acquisition of narrative skill in a second language, and foreign language program evaluation. She has published extensively on oral proficiency testing, language curriculum and program development, and second language acquisition. She has served as the Associate Editor for Reviews of the Modern Language Journal since 1999. She is a co-author of Mosaicos, as well as the co-editor of the Pearson Professional Library Series. In 1994, she was honored by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and the Modern Language Journal with the Emma Marie Birkmaier Award for Doctoral Dissertation Research in Foreign Language Education. In 1999, she received ACTFL’s Florence Steiner Award for Leadership in Foreign Language Education. MATILDE OLIVELLA DE CASTELLS (late) received her Ph.D. from the University of Havana. She had over 25 years of teaching experience at Rutgers University and California State University, Los Angeles where she received the University’s Outstanding Professor Award and Merit Award. She was also the coordinator of second level Spanish at the Middlebury Spanish Summer Language School, a member of the Spanish Development Committee of the College Entrance Examination Board, and Chairperson of the Advanced Placement Committee. She had given presentations at the AATSP and ACTFL conventions and conducted numerous workshops at universities around the country. Professor Castells had authored and co-authored several Spanish texts, including La lengua española and the first level Spanish textbook Mosaicos, both from Pearson.
